KEY QUOTES: “Music is many things to me. It's how I learn. And it's entertaining and exciting, because it covers so much ground.”

Circumstances beyond lan Rubin's control kept him from watching last week's star-studded Grammy Awards telecast, but he doesn't mind one bit.

“I've been a bit busy,” he explained from Burbank, where – since Jan. 28 – he's been doing intense daily rehearsals for his first tour as the newest member of Nine Inch Nails (or NIN, as it is fondly known by fans).

Touring with the world's most innovative and successful industrial-rock band, as Rubin is poised to do starting Feb. 24 in New Zealand, would be a major thrill for any 20-year-old musician.

Yet, while this young virtuoso is understandably pleased about his high-profile new gig, he's also taking it in stride.

This, after all, is the same Ilan Rubin who – at 11 – became the youngest musician to perform at the 1999 Woodstock festival, where he ably manned the drums for F.o.N. The San Diego pop-punk band, which also featured his two older brothers, Aaron and Danny, on guitar and bass, respectively, went on to perform on three separate Vans Warped tours.

The same year as his Woodstock performance saw Modern Drummer magazine declare Rubin the winner of its national “Best Undiscovered Drummer Under the Age of 18” competition. A year later, he began taking lessons in Riverside from blink-182 drum star Travis Barker.

“Being able to learn firsthand from him was awesome,” Rubin said. “The lessons were split between snare drum stuff on a practice pad and then a drum set, which went between rock and more jazz-oriented drumming.”

Now, the day may soon come where Rubin tops Barker in Modern Drummer's annual readers poll.

Blessed with a formidable instrumental command, he is able to play even the most challenging time signatures and polyrhythmic accents with deceptive ease and accuracy. He also maintains a solid groove, no matter how intricate the song at hand, and always plays to enhance the music, not to show off.

It is these skills that earned him the admiration of Trent Reznor, NIN's leader. By coincidence, Rubin is replacing NIN drummer Josh Freese, whom he also replaced in 2005 in the Welsh rock band Lostprophets.

“We recently invited (Ilan) out to rehearse with us and he blew us away,” Reznor said in a post late last year on NIN's Web site. “(He's) the perfect guy to pick up the sticks after Josh leaves us at the end of the year.”

Rubin is 23 years younger than Reznor, who first heard him in 2007 when NIN and Lostprophets both played at the annual Reading and Leeds rock festivals in England.

But he is much more than just a highly skilled drummer whose resumé already includes having played on 13 albums. He is also an accomplished guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, singer and songwriter.